The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Virginia to proceed with the removal of non-citizens from its voter rolls. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen lauded the ruling as he and state officials navigate a legal battle over his decision to remove non-citizens from Alabama’s list of registered voters in similar fashion.
The Court made the decision just two days after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares requested that the high court stay an injunction that ordered Virginia to restore some 1,600 suspected noncitizens to the state’s voter rolls. The one page order also said Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied Virginia’s emergency request for an appeal.
“Today, the United States Supreme Court restored common sense to the issue of whether non-citizens should be able to register and/or vote in our elections,” Allen said. “Only US citizens are legally allowed to register to vote and cast a vote. Alabama joined the State of Kansas along with 24 other states in filing a brief in support of the Virginia case and I am proud to see this positive development. Today’s ruling is a victory for the U.S. Constitution.”
Statement on Today's Supreme Court Ruling in Virginia Voter File Maintainence Case
"Today, the United States Supreme Court restored common sense to the issue of whether non-citizens should be able to register and/or vote in our elections. Only US citizens are legally 1/2
— Wes Allen Alabama Secretary of State (@alasecofstate) October 30, 2024
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought forward by the U.S. Justice Dept. earlier this year.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall was a part a 25-state amicus brief urging the high court to grant Virginia’s emergency motion.
“The Constitution gives States the power to detect and remove noncitizens on their voter rolls,” said Attorney General Marshall. “Shockingly, the Biden-Harris administration has demanded that federal courts intrude on that power—making it easier for noncitizens to vote in Virginia. States should not be required to wait and see if people who identify as noncitizens will vote. The Supreme Court must act to protect election integrity and state efforts to identify fraud before it happens.”
The state of Alabama has also recently been involved in a legal battle over purging non-citizens from the voter rolls. A federal judge temporarily blocked Alabama’s non-citizen voter removal effort Wednesday in response to the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) last month. The judge agrees with the DOJ that the voter roll purge violated the National Voter Registration Act because it was done too close to election day.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
